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At left: Once home to one of the first integrated churches in America, the Charles Street Meeting House was built in 1807 by the Third Baptist Church of Boston, where the segregated tradition of church seating ruled: Black worshippers could only sit in the balcony. In 1836, according to the National Parks Service, Timothy Gilbert, a church member and abolitionist, invited black friends to his pew one Sunday. As a result, he was expelled. Joined by other white abolitionist Baptists. Gilbert founded the First Baptist Free Church, considered one of the first integrated churches in America.